My Life for You
by CWoftheDIW
Summary: Hinata Inn gets a new resident. The trouble is Naru HATES her... er, him. What will happen to our new resident? On hiatus!
1. Hinata Inn's New Resident

Disclaimer: i dont own LH or its characters

Original Characters: Hikaru/Kensuke, Sakura

* * *

Summer has finally arrived for the people living in the Hinata Province. While most families were enjoying the company of each other, one family was having a terrible argument. 

"You are so useless! There was no point ever giving birth to such a useless person! You can't even do as something as simple as asking for money!"

"MOM! I'm not going to do it anymore! I can't just sit here and watch you use drugs, and in front on Sakura nonetheless! She's only SIX! Mom! You've got to quit!"

"Don't you talk back to me, you piece of shit! Oh Lord! What have I done to have such a disobedient child! I would have been better off giving birth to –"

"MOM! Just shut up! I'm so ti –"

**_SLAP_!**

"Don't you ever tell me to shut up!"

"Mom! You're not listening – "

"Shut up! If you don't march out that door and come back with some money, I will disown you!"

"FINE! I tried to be a good daughter but NO! You have to choose things the hard way. Go ahead! DISOWN ME! No, you know what… I'm going to save you the trouble. I DISOWN YOU! I am never stepping foot into this house ever again after I leave!"

Hikaru ran towards her room and grabbed some money. She turned around and was about to head out the door, but her little sister stopped her in her tracks.

"Onee-san… are you leaving?"

"I'm sorry, Sak-kun… I just can't take it anymore… forgive me."

Hikaru got up to leave, but Sakura wouldn't allow her. Sakura grabbed onto her older sister's wrist and held it like her life depended on it. Hikaru looked down to see Sakura unwilling to let go.

"Sak-kun…"

"Don't leave me with the crazy woman…"

Sakura was referring to her mother. She wasn't exaggerating. Their mother could be considered crazy. Everyday she would do drugs and get high for the mere pleasure of it. It's not strange for Sakura to think her mom was crazy since her mom does drugs in front of her, and acts very strange when she is high. Hikaru gave it some thought, and she finally spoke to her little sister.

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes! Yes! Take me! Promise me you will never leave me…"

"I promise. I have to warn you though. I don't even know where I'm going, and we will probably have no place to sleep and probably nothing to eat… do you still want to come with me?"

Sakura nods furiously, and Hikaru chuckles at the younger girl's enthusiasm. The fact is, the only thing that kept her sane all these years in this house was her little sister. Hikaru took hold of Sakura's hand and left the house, with a very few protests from her mom. As she walked down a few streets, a couple guys cornered her, trying to get her to go out with them. She refused continuously, but they would not give up and started to get touchy. If there's one thing that pisses her off more than her mom, it's guys who don't understand the meaning of 'NO'. She took out one guy with a hard blow on the eye, the rest of the guys wanted to hold her back, but they got scared when they saw her cold, steely eyes.

"Damn bastards! Men are such sick perverts! Can I not walk down a few streets without people leering at me! Boys are such – wait a min…"

Hikaru went to a sporting goods shop and bought some clothing. Then, she went to the barber and got her hair cut. After she got her hair cut, she changed into the clothes she just bought. She tried out a couple male voices and smiled when she found the right one. When she walked out of the boy's bathroom, she went over to Sakura and gave her a few instructions.

"Sak-kun, from now on, I am your brother, okay? I'm no longer your sister; I'm your brother…"

"But… why do you have to dress like that?"

"It makes traveling easier, and I can protect you better this way. Do you understand?"

Sakura nods her head. "Okay, Onii-san…"

"Good girl. And from now on… I need a new name. What do you suggest, Sakura?"

"Kensuke… Kensuke…"

"Okay, from now on, my name is Zumaki Kensuke, and you are Zumaki Sakura."

(A/N: From now on, I'll be calling Hikaru Ken and referring to her as a guy even though she really is a girl.)

Sakura smiles and Kensuke was glad that he has a new surname. From now on, these two have no relations to their so-called mother in any way, shape, or form.

"Come Sak-kun… we need to find somewhere to live."

Kensuke grabs Sakura's hand and they walk around the neighborhood for a while. After what felt like hours of searching for a place to settle, Sakura grabbed Ken's attention by tugging on his shirt.

"Yes Sak-kun?"

"I'm tired… can we stop looking now…"

"No, but climb on. You can sleep while I continue looking."

Ken kneeled down and gave his sister a piggy back ride while he was on his search for a place to settle. As he turned a corner to look in the next street, he found the same guys who were leering at 'her' earlier messing with another girl. Ken's anger was reaching its peak and he decided to intervene. He walked over and put down Sakura, who was now hiding behind him from all the 'scary big' boys.

"HEY! Take the hint! She's not interested!" yelled Ken.

"Who the hell are you!" said one guy.

"You'd leave us now if you know what's good for you" said another.

"You leave her alone now and scurry your asses off if you know what's good for you" retorted Ken.

"Why, you son of a –"

Ken landed a blow squarely on one of the guy's face. All of his friends was about to jump in, had it not been for a crowd starting to form and people starting to talk about them, _loudly_. When the crowd died down and people started to go about their business, Ken turned to the girl who was being harassed earlier.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. T-thank y-you s-so m-much. I-I d-don't k-know –"

"What you would have done if I wasn't there, right?"

She nodded.

"So what's your name?"

"M-Maehara S-Shinobu."

"It's nice to meet you, Maehara-san. Where do you live? I will walk you home."

"Oh… well… uhmm… actually, I wasn't done grocery shopping… so… i-it's okay…"

"Oh, no problem, we will accompany, just in case they come back when they see that I have left you."

"I-I really don't want to inconvenience you."

"No, it's fine. I insist"

Sakura tugged onto Ken's shirt, causing his and Shinobu's attention to shift to her.

"Can we not walk anymore?" whined the little one.

"See… really, there is no need for you to accompany me. Maybe you should bring your little sister home and let her rest" replied Shinobu.

"It's no problem at all. We will walk you" replied Ken to Shinobu. He then turned to his little sister and spoke "And you can sleep on my back while we shop, okay?"

The little girl climbed onto Ken's back and Ken gave her a piggy back ride while he followed Shinobu around. Shinobu went to the market and bought lots of ingredients. She was carrying so many bags, it looked the bags weighed more than her. Upon seeing Shinobu struggle with all the bags, Ken just snatched half of her load without asking.

"N-no, I couldn't possibly bother you –"

"We are going back to your place now, right?"

Shinobu nods.

"Good, then let's get going."

"Uhm… this is a bit embarrassing… I-I just realized… I didn't ask for your name…"

"Zumaki Kensuke. You can shorten it to just Ken if you like."

"Zumaki-san, aren't you tired? You're carrying your sister and so many bags…"

"I will be, so how about we hurry onto your place before I collapse on the street, eh?"

Shinobu lead the way back to her place, in the Hinata Inn. When they entered, Ken was lead into the kitchen where he put all the bags down, and then he exited to the living room to put Sakura down on the couch.

"I hope you don't mind if my sister rests on your couch"

"No, not at all."

A woman with blondish brown hair comes into the living room. She was at least in college, judging by her looks. She walks in, talking to Shinobu.

"Shinobu, your back already… so what's for din—who's this?"

Shinobu blushes and remains quiet, so Ken introduced himself to her.

"Hello, I am Zumaki Kensuke, and you are…"

"Narusegawa Naru. Why are you here?"

"I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion. I suppose it's best if I leave."

"Zumaki-san, would you like to stay for dinner?" offered Shinobu.

"Shinobu… you barely even know this boy. You can't just invite him to dinner" protested Naru.

"Naru-sempai, h-he helped me away from some mean –"

"Maehara-san, I'm sorry to interrupt you like this, but you are being too nice. Those people were not mean, they were despicable idiots. Narusegawa-san, allow me to explain. As I was passing by, I found Maehara-san being harassed by a couple of despicable idiots. I found the site to be utterly disturbing, so I intervened their actions and walked Maehara-san home."

"Okay, so he saved you, but you don't know anything about this boy."

"Narusegawa-san, may you please stop reprimanding Maehara-san. I will not attend your dinner tonight." Ken turns to Shinobu. "Thank you for the offer Maehara-san, but I apologize for not being able to attend your dinner tonight. I am busy tonight."

"With what?"

Sakura stirs and she wakes up just in time to hear Ken decline the invitation to dinner. She sat quietly, until now.

"Because onii-san and I have to find a home… but onii-san, can we please stay for dinner? Please, please, please"

"Oh! Who is this cute little girl?" Naru squealed.

The sight of Naru squealing frightened the little girl and she ran to hide behind her brother.

"My apologies. Sakura-chan doesn't react well to things she finds strange… squealing, for instance, qualifies for strange."

"How does squealing qualify for strange! You are – Oh… you're sister is not afraid when I yelled..."

"Yes… she does not find yelling strange… as it happens in my house every hour of the day and everyday of the year. I'm sorry we intruded. Goodbye"

Ken starts to leave, but notices that Sakura would not budge.

"I want dinner…" whined Sakura.

"Naru… let them stay for dinner. The cute little girl wants to stay…" protested Shinobu.

"I'm not stopping her. I'm just stopping him" argued Naru.

Ken smiles. "Okay, Sakura, you can stay for dinner. How about I leave to find a place to settle while you stay here with Maehara-san for dinner? I will be back to pick you up."

"NO! Onii-san stays with Sak-kun! Onii-san has to promised to never leave Sak-kun…"

Ken sighs in defeat. "Okay Sak-kun…" He looks up and speaks to Shinobu. "Maehara-san, I will be staying only to accompany my sister, so you will not have to cook my share…"

"Why…?"

"Because it seems as though Narusegawa-san does not enjoy my company. It would be rather rude of me to eat at a place that I am unwanted."

Shinobu goes back into the kitchen to cook dinner for the night. Ken and Sakura went on a home-hunt for the while being. At around six, the two siblings walk back to the Hinata Inn with no more luck than they had started this afternoon. Ken is sitting at the table with all the residents of the Hinata Inn, feeding his younger sister occasionally when she was having trouble with the chopsticks. All of the other residents seem to like him when they first introduced themselves to him.

"Mm… Shinobu made another great dinner!" Su commented. "Time for dessert!"

"Well… I'm going to my room for some more sake now. Goodnight everyone." Kitsune announced.

"I must start training" departed Motoko.

"Ah… yes, I should go do some of the other chores I never finished this morning" reported Keitaro.

The only ones left around the table now were Kensuke, Sakura, Su, Naru, and Shinobu. It seems that Naru was keen on keeping an eye on Ken, because her eyes never left him since he first sat on his chair. Now, dinner was over, and the two were on their way again.

"Okay, you got what you want Sak-kun. Now our only problem is a home…"

"Zumaki-san! Wait…!"

Ken stopped and turned around to see Shinobu running in his direction.

"There is something that I'm curious about. Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten anything all afternoon"

"How did you know? Never mind. It doesn't matter."

Ken stomach grumbles, giving him away. Shinobu holds up something that looks like a lunchbox.

"Here. Take this."

"No thank you. Right now, the least of my worries is hunger."

"Why do you say that?"

"I need to find a place to stay for the night. Sakura is only six. She wouldn't be able to live sleeping on the streets."

"Why don't you just go home?"

Ken twitched at the word 'home'.

"Home? I don't have one…"

"But… surely you have parents…"

"They're dead…"

"But if that's the case, shouldn't you be in an orphanage?"

"My father is really dead. To me, my mother is dead, but the lady who gave birth to me is still alive, somewhere getting high."

"What?" Shinobu was very confused right now.

"Allow me to explain. For the last sixteen years that I have been alive, I was abused, physically and emotionally by my mother. I got tired of her so I left the hellhole that was once my home, with Sakura. I'm not going to let her continue her ways with me, and I'm not going to have Sakura grow up with a drug-addict mother. I simply disowned her as my mother. In other words, to me, she's dead."

"Oh… that's so sad…"

"Save the pity for someone else. I'm happy to finally be away from her. All I need now is a home and a job…"

"Why don't you stay at the Hinata Inn?"

"I can't. It's an all girls dorm."

"So? I can talk to sempai for you. I'm sure he'll make an exception."

"I don't know… I'm not so sure Narusegawa-san would agree with it. She doesn't seem to like me… at all. Plus, I don't know how I could pay the rent, I don't have much money."

"We can always work something out. Sempai worked it out for me. I get to pay a little less than the others because I cook and clean."

"There's nothing much I can do… maybe I will come back when I do find a job."

Ken starts off to leave, but he felt someone hold onto him. He assumed it was his sister, but she was too occupied skipping around on the cracks of the floor. He looked over and saw Shinobu holding onto him with pleading blue eyes.

"Maehara-san…"

"Please, why don't you just give it a try?"

"Why are you so insistent on this? You barely even know me. For all you know… I could be using you…"

"Because I believe you are really kind-hearted… I believe that I have excellent judgment in a character…"

Ken gave a long sigh, and agreed to see the manager about it. So now, they are sitting in the living room with all the residents. Since Ken is a guy, all the residents have to be there to approve.

"So you see sempai… Zumaki-san really needs a place to stay…" explained Shinobu.

"Hmm… yes… very interesting. I suppose I can make an exception. All in favor of letting Zumaki Kensuke stay…"

All the residents except for Naru raised their hands.

"So there goes the vote. Zumaki Kensuke is now a resi—"

"Hey! This is wrong! Wrong! Zumaki Kensuke is a BOY. This is an ALL GIRLS' dorm" protested Naru.

"So? Keitaro is a man and he is our manager…" commented Su.

"Besides, the poor boy's sister is only six. You can't have her stay in the streets…" defended Motoko. "And it seems that the girl refuse to part from her brother." Motoko looked over at Sakura, who was now sleeping on Ken's lap.

"Yeah Naru, you let Keitaro stay…" stated Su

"Well… Kei- he… uh…" After a few minutes, Naru settled on a thought. "Keitaro is a student from Tokyo University! He's not –"

"Then does it make you feel any better if I tell you I intend on attending Tokyo University…" asked Ken

"Humph… talk to us when you pass the entrance exams" stated Naru sternly.

"Okay. Since I've already passed the entrance exams, would you like to talk now?"

"WHHAAAATTTTT!"

All of the residents are shocked about this boy's intelligience.

"Is there… a problem?"

"How could you have passed the exams! You are only sixteen! You're only supposed to be a-a sophomore in school right now…"

"Uhmm… junior. I don't know… I got bored one day so I decided to sign up to take the exams. Originally they didn't allow me to because of my age, but I had a teacher write me a referral and a recommendation. Surprisingly enough, I thought the test was going to be harder, but oh well."

"YOUU!" Naru said through clenched teeth.

"What?" Ken gave her an innocent look.

"You cannot stay here because you are a sixteen year old boy!"

Ken turned to Shinobu. "See, I told you, Maehara-san." He turned to the rest of the residents. "I'm so sorry to intrude once more. I will be going now… goodnight."

When Ken got up, he woke his sister up.

"Onii-san… where are we going?"

"I don't know… somewhere. Come on, let's go."

Ken carries his sister and exits the building. He could hear all the residents contradicting with Naru, but he didn't care. He was not in the mood to do anything. He just needed a place to stay the night. Is that so much to ask? When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Aoyama Motoko ran towards him, and stopped him in his tracks.

"What is it, Aoyama-san?"

"We have all out-voted Naru so you can stay in the Hinata Inn."

"I'm sorry. I feel unwanted there. I spent most of my life feeling unwanted; now all I want is to have a home, where I'm not unwanted. I don't have to be wanted, just not unwanted."

Motoko was confused by this statement, but she shrugged it off and just persisted for him to stay. By now, all the residents are insisting that he stay, with the exception of Naru. When all those people are tugging onto you and saying all these things to you, it's kind of hard to decline, so he accepted.

"Ok, I'll stay, but only until I find a new home…"

_**NEXT CHAPTER:**_ Ken adjusts to life in the Hinata Inn... and well... Naru just decides to strike...

* * *

Thanks for reading, now would u please **_review_**? Sak-kun wants a review... 


	2. Adjusting to Hinata Inn

Disclaimer: i am not Akamatsu Ken, therefore LH and characters do not belong to me

**A/N**: to answer Martrex's question about why Ken is staying as a guy, it's because of the plot. You will see in later chapters...

Original Characters: Kensuke, Sakura

* * *

Kensuke and Sakura are now residents in the Hinata Inn. Everyone enjoys their company, except for a particular blondish brown haired woman by the name of Narusegawa Naru. Ken earns his living here with Sakura by helping out the residents with some chores. He also found a part-time job working in the Hinata Tea House since the owner of that teahouse was the manager's aunt. Her name is Urashima Haruka, and she was kind enough to hire Kensuke even though she didn't really need to. The trouble with working is Sakura follows him to work, because she refuses to be left alone with the 'scary woman who hates onii-san'. However, over the pass weeks, he managed and everyone in the teahouse no longer minds Sakura. Occasionally, when he is free, he would help Shinobu with studying for the entrance exams. Right now, Ken is in Shinobu's room, tutoring her for the Tokyo U entrance exams while Sakura is drawing. Shinobu gives an aggravated sigh, causing Ken's attention to shift from his sister to her. 

"What is it, Maehara-san?"

"I'm sorry sempai –"

"How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me 'sempai'. We are the same age so you can call me Ken."

"That would be inappropriate since you are tutoring me."

"Keep this up and I will have to stop tutoring you."

"No… no… please don't. I really need to pass the entrance exams. I-I'll call you Zumaki-san."

Ken grins in triumph and chuckles at Shinobu's panicking state.

"You know, on second thought, I think you should call me Ken. I think that sounds better."

"Ken-san?" inquired Shinobu.

"Ken-kun! Ken-kun!" chanted Sakura.

"Sak-kun… that's good. It has alliteration. Ken-kun it is then. Right, Maehara-san should call me Ken-kun."

"Ken-kun?"

"Yes? Oh right. You needed help on this problem. Let me see what you did. Hmm…" Ken looks through her work and found the error. "I see… what you did was factor out the variable to get rid of the fraction, but in this case, you shouldn't have done that…"

Ken continues to help Shinobu with her work, occasionally getting distracted by Sakura. After two hours of hard studying, Shinobu called it a day and went to prepare dinner. Ken followed her to the kitchen and helped her out with the cooking. Ken wasn't a bad chef, in fact, he was pretty good. After all, he did learn how to cook from his neighbor at a young age and began cooking for the family since his mom was too high to do anything right.

"Zumaki-san –" started Shinobu

"Ken-kun. If you call me by anything else, I won't respond to you." corrected Ken.

"Ken-kun, you're pretty good at cooking. Where'd you learn?"

"My neighbors. They were nice people and occasionally they would teach me how to cook certain dishes. By age 12, I started experimenting and created a few of my own dishes."

"Oh…"

"Yup. If I depended on the one who calls herself my mother, I would've died years ago…"

"Would you tell everyone that it is dinnertime?"

"Of course. Come on Sak-kun…"

They went to the roof and told Motoko and Su that it was time for dinner. They found Kitsune in her room, with a bottle of sake, and reported the news to her. They bumped into Keitaro on their way to his room and told him to get ready for dinner. The last one was Naru. He went to her room and knocked several times with no answer.

"Sak-kun, go in and see if Narusegawa-san is in there"

"Onii-san, she's scary…"

"Don't worry, if she is there, tell me. Oh, and make sure she is fully dressed before I enter. I don't intend to be her next punching bag like the manager."

"Onii-san…"

"Go…"

Sakura takes a deep breath, and slip though the door. Then she calls for her brother. Ken slides the door open entirely and stands at the doorway. Sakura runs back out and hides behind him.

"Narusegawa-san, dinner is ready." Ken reported.

"Okay. Now get out of my room!" yelled Naru.

Ken smiles. He found it an enjoyment to piss Naru off every chance he gets. After all, no one said he wanted to be liked by _everyone_.

"But I'm not in your room. I'm outside on the hallway and unfortunately for you, you don't own the hallway."

Ken leaves before Naru even has a chance to yell back at him, followed by Sakura. He goes back to the dining room and helps Shinobu set everything up for dinner. In time, all the seats were filled up, and everyone began to eat. Naru kept shooting death glares at Ken, while Ken gave most of his attention to his sister. When dinner was finished, Ken cleared the table and did the dishes. As he was walking back to his room, he couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation Kitsune was having with Naru in Kitsune's room.

"Naru, it's not that big of a deal…"

"What is…?"

"Kensuke staying here."

"Yes it is! He's a boy in an ALL GIRLS' dorm!"

"Technically, it's not an all girls dorm anymore since Keitaro came."

"We made an exception because we needed a manager, Kitsune! I thought you knew that."

"But Naru, the poor boy and his sister was in dire need of a place to stay."

"He has a home! Why can't he go there!"

"Naru, you're being unreasonable…"

"What!"

"Naru, you had a home too when you came here too. Why did you move here?"

"I—"

"You're family was having minor problems. You thought your stepmom didn't like you… Look at Kensuke! He is ten times worse than you. His dad is dead, his mom is a drug-addict, he gets abused, and he has a little sister to take care of."

"Kitsune, grandma Hina made this an all girls' dorm for a reason…"

"What's the reason?"

"I-I don't know…"

"See, Naru? Why do you have to put the poor boy through any more trouble than he already has? Personally, I applaud him to even have manners. Growing up with an abusive parent usually makes kids grow up rude and violent. Kensuke is neither rude nor violent. He's very kind and caring. You have to get to know him before you judge him."

"Since when did you start giving these types of speeches?"

"Heh heh….."

At this point, Ken's manners came back to him and he thought it would be rude to eavesdrop anymore. After all, he only got curious when his name was mentioned but now that the subject was no longer on him, he didn't want to eavesdrop any longer. He went back to his room and got ready for his shower. Since he was a guy, he gets his own solo bath, which he shares with his sister. He takes a bath, gets dressed, and then he gives his sister a bath. Sakura has fun splashing the water, while Ken tries to scrub her back. Just then, Shinobu walked in and found Ken washing Sakura.

"Ken-kun…"

"Yes Maehara-san?"

Sakura, at this point, decides to splash harder, and wets Ken's shirt.

"Sak-kun… stop it"

"Sorry onii-san" giggles Sakura.

"Would you like me to wash your shirt for you, Ken-kun?" offered Shinobu.

"Oh, no need. I will change after I'm done giving Sakura her bath."

"You should change right away. You might get a cold like that."

"No need. It's summer now. Who gets a cold in the summer? Oh, right. Was there something you needed?"

"Uhm…"

Sakura makes another big splash and wets both Ken and Shinobu.

"Sak-kun! Stop it! Look, you wet Maehara-san"

"Sorry Maehara-san… sorry onii-san…"

"Just don't splash anymore. Maehara-san, my apologies for what Sakura did. You should hurry and change out of those wet cloths. I don't want you to get sick…"

Shinobu leaves to change. While Shinobu was gone, Ken started lecturing Sakura about water splashing and dries her. By the time Shinobu returns, Sakura was fully dressed and they were about to leave. The three walk back to Ken's room and Ken tucks Sakura to sleep. When Sakura finally fell asleep, Shinobu lead Ken out to the rooftop.

"Wow… the stars are beautiful, aren't they?" started Shinobu

"Yes, I suppose… was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, I was just interested in knowing your past."

"My past? Why the interest?"

"You seem sad sometimes when I look at you. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do."

"I'm really happy with my life right now."

"Really? What was your life like with your mother?"

"Hmm… when I was six, I lost my innocence. I committed fraud with her for money. By the time I was 10, I took on the family. You know, I did the cooking, cleaning, and all that motherly stuff while income was brought in by somwhere from my father's death. When I was 14, I got a job at the store my neighbor owns and started bringing home some income. Almost daily, my mom would order me to give her money. When I didn't have any, she would abuse me and make me go borrow. She does drugs all the time in front of Sakura. I lost my innocence at six; I didn't want that to happen to Sakura too. By 16, I left home with Sakura, and came here. I'm far happier now than I have ever been. That's basically my life story."

"Oh… how depressing…"

"What about you? Why'd you come here?"

"Well... when my parents were getting a divorce, they were always yelling at each other. Every time I see them at it, my heart would break. They intended to move but I didn't want to leave. I moved here so I can stay here and hide from all the stuff my parents were going through. I used to be really sad about it, but since I met you, I realized how lucky I am. My parents cared about me, that's why they were always yelling, but for you, no one cared about you. You… you're amazing, you know. You had such a bad childhood but you consider yourself lucky now that you lead your own life. Me? I'm always wallowing in self-pity, thinking about how bad my life was. You let me see that I was very lucky."

"Well… uhh… I don't know about that. I feel lucky that I've met you…"

Shinobu's face brightens. "Really?"

"Well, yeah. You know, if it wasn't for you, I would probably be sleeping in the streets right now, dying from hunger or something. Sakura really likes you too. She's always complimenting your cooking and how nice you are."

"How about you? What do you think of me?"

"ME? I think you're a really nice, caring, kind-hearted person. You're really good at cooking and cleaning and all that motherly stuff. You would make a fair wife and a good mother one day, unlike mines. Why'd you ask?"

"I was just wondering…"

"How about me? Maehara-san, what do you think about me?"

"Well, I think you're really nice, kind-hearted, and sweet. You're smart and responsible, and you're manners are beyond well. By the way, since I've stopped calling you Zumaki-san, you should start calling me Shinobu."

"Shinobu-san. So, if I'm really as good as you say I am, why does Narusegawa-san dislike me so much? I mean, I know I get her angry a lot nowadays, but when we first met, she didn't seem to like me at all. I was polite when we first met, wasn't I?"

"Naru-sempai… she just has a thing against boys, I suppose…"

"So why does she accept Urashima-san as the manager if she really did have a grudge against men? I mean, the manager is a man too."

"I—"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be prying... it's just, I overheard Kitsune and Naru talk, and well… Kitsune seem to think I'm kind and caring and all, but Naru… she… forget it… let's change the subject."

"Oh… okay… is it true though?"

"Is what true?"

"You really thought the Tokyo U entrance exams were easy?"

"They weren't easy, they just weren't as hard as I expected. I heard from a lot of people it was impossible to pass, so I took it to challenge myself. Anyway, I passed but I don't know if I should attend. I mean, I still have to look after Sakura, and the tuition is a problem. Plus, I still have to pay rent here and all."

"Think about it later. I can help you a little if you want."

"Why are you so nice to me? You're the second person in this world who treats me like a human being."

"Oh? Who's the first?"

"Sakura. Before she was born, I was held in a very dark world. I would just get abused, even if I obeyed _her_. When Sakura was born, she brought light into my world. She kept me sane in that house and she gave me the courage to stick up for myself. Everything I do now, I do for her. I'll make sure she has a normal childhood and gets equal opportunities."

"What do you mean? Everyone gets equals opportunities now…"

"You know… I could've gone to a special school. People oftentimes commented me as a genius, but my mother, she didn't let me. I was stuck to going to public school and… everything just sucks there. I got bullied in school because of my smarts. If not bullied, people only befriended me so they could use me… I hated that life… used… I'm always being used… I was used at home, and I was used at school…"

"Well… you're not being used here…"

"I know… that's why I'm glad I'm here now… It's getting late. I should get going before Sakura wakes up and realizes I'm not there…"

"You really love her, don't you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do… Oh right, before I leave, was there something else you wanted?"

Shinobu paused for a moment, then she replied 'no' with one of her trademark shy smiles. Ken leaves the rooftop and returns to his room. That night, he laid on his futon thinking though the conversation Shinobu and he had. The next morning he woke up to a loud clanging noise. He got dressed and found the source of the sound. Motoko was in the dining room swinging her katana furiously at the spring turtle.

"T-t-tur-turtle!"

Ken smiles at the irony. The one who would take over the divinity school of swordsmanship is scared of a little turtle. To stop Motoko from her furious swinging, Ken caught Tama-chan.

"Aoyama-san. It's okay now. I caught Tama-chan." informed Ken.

"T-thank you, Zumaki-san." panted Motoko.

"Ken-kun! Would you set the table for breakfast?" Shinobu asked from the kitchen.

"Of course" Ken replied.

He went into the kitchen and took some plates outside. As he was setting up the table, Motoko started a conversation with him.

"Ken-kun?" asked Motoko

"Yes?"

"May I assume that you two are an item?"

"No… it's just that Shinobu-san is the closest I ever had to a friend. I thought it was appropriate if she called me Ken-kun… any resident of the Hinata Inn may call me Ken-kun."

"Humph! Who would want to call you that?" Naru said as she entered the dining room.

"Good morning Narusegawa-san. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Mind your own business you per—"

"Spare the names. Oh, right, I must wake Sak-kun… excuse me everyone…"

Ken goes up to his room and woke Sakura up. As Ken was supervising Sakura through her morning rituals, he heard some rustling noises coming from his room. After waiting patiently for Sakura to finish, they traveled back to their room. Ken is now leaning on the doorway, with Sakura by his side. He watched as Narusegawa-san searched his desk, in his drawers, through his wardrobes, and all around in his room. He watched until she gave a heavy sigh suggesting that she didn't find what she was looking for.

"Ahem, excuse me Narusegawa-san, but I would like to inquire as to why you have trashed my room."

"I didn't trash your room!" said Naru in a semi-loud tone.

"Oh really?"

"YES REALLY!" yelled Naru.

"Okay, what were you looking for?"

"Nothing…"

"Narusegawa-san, I think it is only appropriate that you owe me an explanation. What were you looking for?"

Ken gave hera stern look, a very stern look that she has never seen on him before. She gave up and mumbled something.

"Excuse me?"

"I said porn!"

"Oh my, Naru! I never knew you were like that!" Kitsune commented.

It has just occurred to them that all the Hinata residents were standing right outside Ken's room.

"NO! I'm not! Remember Shinobu? You said he was a decent guy. I just wanted to prove to you that he is just like every sick, perverted, lecherous guy out there in the world…"

"And…" Ken urged.

"And I haven't found the evidence… YET"

"By the way, I thought all guys have porn. How come you don't?" inquired Kitsune.

"Because, Konno-san, I find female pornography degrading to the female anatomy. Whilst it is true that the female anatomy is very fascinating in a scientific and medical sense, I don't find it that interesting to buy magazines full of it. Besides, it is a waste of money and I cannot risk Sakura's innocence."

Everyone was awed by his little lecture. Then, everyone turned to Keitaro and he turned into a deep shade of red. Ken broke off the manager's embarrassment by announcing that they best be off to breakfast. While everyone was eating, Ken remained in his room cleaning up the mess Naru had just created. After about half and hour, when most of the mess was cleaned up, a distraction walked into his room, well, actually two distractions.

"Onii-san… breakfast was yummy. Maehara-san made something new. You should try it. It was very very yummy!" announced Sakura.

"Ok Sak-kun… I will after I finish cleaning this…"

"How about you go and eat and I'll help clean the rest up for you?" offered Shinobu.

"Oh, no need. I'm almost done. I'll be done in a minute or so…" replied Ken nonchalantly.

"Okay then…" Shinobu left with a note of sadness in her tone.

After Ken was done cleaning, he went to the kitchen to see if he could cook anything up for breakfast. After all, he spent most of his morning cleaning, and he was very hungry right now… then he heard Shinobu from behind him.

"Ken-kun… I saved you some breakfast…"

Ken turns around and smiles. "Oh, thank you Shinobu-san."

Ken takes a seat in the dining room table, and watches as Shinobu does the same. Shinobu watches Ken closely as he starts to eat. After a while, Ken couldn't take it anymore, he had to speak up.

"What?" asked Ken.

"Oh, do you like it?"

"Yes. It's very delicious. Just like how Sakura said it would be."

"I'm glad. I-I'm sorry Ken-kun…"

"Hmm? For what?"

"For what Naru-sempai did. She had no right to go through your things."

"At least she explained herself… anyway,it's okay Shinobu-san. It's not your fault. You shouldn't have to apologize…"

"I-It's just…I—"

"Your cooking is very good Shinobu-san. You should open up a restaurant or something when you grow up…"

"You really like my cooking?"

"Mm hmm…"

Just in the middle of their conversation, Naru stomped down the stairs, followed by Motoko. They both stop in front of Ken.

"What do you say?" Motoko said to Naru.

"I-I'm sorry for going through your things…" Naru apologized reluctantly.

"And…?" persisted Motoko.

"And that I—"

"I'm sorry Aoyama-san. I didn't mean for you to go through the trouble of forcing Narusegawa-san to apologize, but I will not accept her apology" stated Ken.

"WHAT!" yelled Naru.

"I said I cannot accept your apology. I know that Aoyama-san asked you to apologize to me and that is why I cannot accept it. Until you apologize to me with your heart and not your mouth, I'm afraid you won't even have to bother with it."

Naru's mouth is hanging open as Ken gives her this little speech. When she recollected herself, she started muttering angrily under her breath and stomped back to her room.

"I'm sorry for the trouble you had to go through, Aoyama-san."

"Oh, no. I'm sorry for Naru's earlier actions. Well, since there's nothing I can help with anymore, I'll be training on the roof if you need me."

Ken flashes Motoko a smile and resumes his chat with Shinobu. The week passed by surprisingly calm, if you exclude the occasional bombings, Keitaro flying into orbit and such. The thing was, there were no arguments from Naru about Ken. Now, Ken is in Shinobu's room, giving her another session of Tokyo U entrance exams studying.

"Hmm… Shinobu-san has improved over the pass few weeks. I'm proud of you." complimented Ken.

Shinobu blushes. "Oh no! I'm sorry that I'm so slow and that you have to repeat so many times for me to –"

"Not at all. I'm proud. Now, let's up the difficulty level a little bit, shall we? Okay… do this problem."

Ken pointed to a random problem that he thought might be a little more challenging for Shinobu. While Shinobu was working on the problem, Sakura suddenly started yelling 'Scary lady! Scary lady!'. Ken turned around and found Naru standing at the doorway.

"Yes Narusegawa-san?"

"Zumaki-san. I am here to apologize for my behavior over the pass few weeks. I'm sorry." Naru gives a little bow.

Thinking that Naru has finally changed her mind about him, he accepted her apology. The announcement of Naru accepting Ken into the Hinata Inn was announced during lunch and everyone seem glad that Naru came around in the end.

**Next Chapter**: Naru thinks up a devious plan to try and get everyone to hate Ken and have him kicked out of the Hinata Inn... Also, with all the commotion, Ken has an emotional outburst... I wonder what will happen... don't you?

* * *

Well... it seems that Naru finally came around... eh? or not... hehe. Thanks for reading and pleaseeee review! I'm a sucker for **_reviews_**! If you find any grammatical errors, please tell me because I hate it when I have grammatical errors in my stories... 5+ reviews equals new chapter 

Sakura: reviews reviews... hey... where'd all the reviews go? _Sakura frowns_


	3. Study Session with Naru

Disclaimer: i am not Akamatsu Ken, therefore i do not own LH or characters

Sakura: Yay! I love all who submitted reviewss!  
Ken: Sak-kun... can you even read what they wrote?  
Sakura (frowns): No... but... but... onii-san can! (smiles)  
Ken (smiles): damn... you got me there... (reads reviews to Sak-kun...)

**WARNING**: Some not so mild language towards the end... if you dont like to curse, just pretend it's censored...  
A little angsty towards the end...

_Text in italicize are Ken's thoughts..._

* * *

Life was starting to get onto the brighter side as the days pass. Naru has finally accepted Ken into their inn and she was actually beginning to act friendly towards him. Right now, Ken and Shinobu are in the kitchen, cooking lunch for the dear residents. 

"Shinobu, have you ever thought about a career as a chef?"

"Well… sometimes…"

"I don't know why you want to go to Tokyo U so much for. Well yeah, it is a prestigious school, but if you are thinking about being a chef, then you should go to a college that specializes in cooking…"

"I don't know. I've made it my goal to go to Tokyo U when I was younger. I just want to stick to it. I want to prove to everyone I can do it too…"

"I still think you should choose the school based on your career…"

"Then why'd you decide to go to Tokyo U?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what I should do with my life… I told you, I took the entrance exams to test myself. I never really intended on attending, but I got accepted… so…"

Ken gives a little shrug and throws some vegetables into the pot. He watches them boil as silence engulfed the kitchen. The silence was soon interrupted when Su jumped into the kitchen and chases Tama around with a watery mouth.

"Myuh!" cried Tama.

Ken caught Tama-chan and held onto her, so Su could not eat her. He found it strange as to why Su is so determined to make Tama a meal.

"Ken-san! Thank you for catching Tama. Can I have her now?" Su asked.

"Uhm… no…"

"Aww… why not?"

"Because Shinobu-chan wouldn't want Tama eaten, neither would I."

Su left the kitchen, slightly disheartened at the fact that another one of her attempts to make a meal out of the spring turtle was unsuccessful. Shinobu was just relieved that Ken gave Su the right answer, or rather, the answer she had in mind. The flashback of their first encounter of such was actually entertaining, if you think about it…

Su came running into the living room, chasing Tama, who happened to fly right into the arms of Ken. Then Su approached Ken and asked for the turtle. Not knowing what was going to happen, he handed Tama over to Su. Then Shinobu came running and started panicking when she found Tama in the hands of Su. She starting flailing her arms as chasing Su was a near impossible task. Ken looked at the blue-haired girl and found his mistake. He went after Su, in the tactical manner. He approached her in her room, and snatched Tama right out of the hands of Su. After successfully saving the turtle, he had to try to avoid being shot by Su's Tama-pistols as he exited her room. He returned Tama to Shinobu, and she was so happy, she thanked him continuously.

Ken chuckled at the memory. Especially the part where he had to sneak into Su's room and almost triggered the alarms. He jolted back to reality when Shinobu asked him to tell the others that lunch is ready. He went and told most of the members of the Hinata Inn that it was time for lunch. Then he approached Naru's room. Ken did what he always did, even though Naru has said that she accepts him, he still made Sakura go in first and then report to him. Ken slides the door open and stayed out in the hallway. Sakura ran out and hid behind her brother while he told Naru it was time for lunch. Naru replied with an 'Okay. Thanks Zumaki-san' and then he leaves back to the dining room. See? Naru no longer yells at him, and she's actually being polite to him. A few minutes later, the seats were filled up and people were eating. After the meal, while Ken was alone in the kitchen doing the dishes, Naru went in to talk to him.

"Hello Ken-kun… I can call you Ken-kun, can't I? I mean, you said anyone who—"

"Yeah, if you want…"

"Okay, good…"

Naru fell silent and Ken continued doing the dishes as if Naru wasn't there. I mean, after all, she wasn't talking or doing anything significant. Then, she broke the silence again, somewhat unsure.

"So Ken-kun, you're going to Tokyo U, right?"

"Yes, I am…" he said, trying to figure out what she wants.

"What courses are you going to take?"

"Some level two Calculus class, uhh, Physics 101, and stuff like that. I can't recall too well what they were… why?"

"No reason. The summer homework is tough right?"

"No, not to me."

"Really? I find it hard…"

"Oh? I thought you were like the smartest girl in your old prep school…"

"Yes, but Tokyo U is very prestigious. It's not strange to find their work hard…"

"No, I suppose not…"

By now, Ken finished the dishes and was wiping his hands on a towel.

"Well, I'll be going to my room now… was there anything you wanted?"

"Well… sort of… I was kind of wondering… if you could tutor me?"

Ken smirks. He finds this idea really funny (**A/N**: I mean, you would too if you read in chapter one how she was so against him staying in the inn. And then how she belittles him… in a sense… calling him a 16-year-old boy… insinuating that she thinks he's little… and now wants help from him…) but he nods anyway.

"Sure… would you like me to come by your room tonight after Sakura is asleep?"

Naru nods. "Sure."

To the residents in the Hinata Inn, they were happy that Naru was finally getting along with Ken, and Ken is well, sort of unused to it. For weeks, Naru loathed him, but through the changes of one week, she has been really sweet to him. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't place a finger on it. Night came and Ken tucked Sakura to asleep. When Sakura's deep, constant breathing told Ken that she was asleep, he walked over to Naru's room to tutor her. Heh, he can have a career as a tutor or something.

He knocked and walked into Naru's room. It was actually the first time that he is been inside of this room. He walked over to the table where Naru was sitting with work spread out. He couldn't help but notice that Naru is wearing some clothing that is –ahem– a little flashy…

"Hello Narusegawa-san, what is it that you are having trouble with?"

"Hello Ken-kun, it's this calculus. I never learnt it properly so it's really confusing to me."

Ken looked at the problem Naru pointed out. It was really confusing, but I guess you should take into consideration that Ken had skipped two whole years ahead of himself, therefore he had not learned everything little thing he was suppose to. Oh well, being a genius, he'll eventually know what to do. He borrowed a pencil and some paper from Naru and started to do the problem. He didn't explain anything, he just did it, just to make sure he knows what he was doing. After he found the answer, he turned to Naru, who has gotten exceptionally close to him, somehow.

"Narusegawa-san, do you have the correct answers?"

"You can call me Naru-chan…"

Naru took out a piece of paper and gave it to Ken, and he thanked 'Narusegawa-san'. It was the answer sheet and he saw that he made an error. He went back and did some fixing. Then, he went to check the answer again, and he got it right this time. He smiled triumphantly when he found that he got the right answer. Then, he turned her Naru, and he couldn't help but notice that now they were really really close. Ken scooted over to the opposite side and began explaining to Naru what she had to do. She nodded, seemingly understanding what Ken was saying. Ken pointed at a problem in front of her and told her to try that one out. She didn't even try, she just went on saying she can't because she didn't know how to.

"Just try it… you might be surprised…"

"But I don't understand this one bit… I mean, it sort of made sense when you explained it, but it doesn't make sense at all when I look at it…"

Ken sighed. "Fine. I'll go through it step by step with you this time. Okay, first what do you do?"

"Uhm… identify the problem and what it wants?"

"Good… then…?"

Ken helped Naru through it, step by step. As he went through each step with her, he couldn't help but notice that she was slowly closing the space between them. Right now, he is in a very uncomfortable situation but he didn't know whether or not he should voice it out. He could feel her breathing at his neck as she was leaning in so she could see the paper Ken was writing on. Occasionally, she would 'accidently' brush up against him, causing heat to pulsate in him. When they were finished with that problem, Ken asked Naru to do another problem, this time, without his help.

"Here, Narusegawa-san, do this problem. It has similar concepts."

"I told you before to call me Naru-chan."

"Ah, no. I think I should continue calling you Narusegawa-san, for it is appropriate since you are my elder. Excuse me for a moment…"

Ken decided that he should go out for some air. After all, he wasn't at all comfortable with how they were now and he ran out of room to scoot over. He gets up, only to be halted when someone grabbed onto his wrist. He looked down and saw Naru holding onto him, but he doesn't know why.

"Where are you going?" Naru asks.

"Bathroom…"

"Oh… well… come back soon" she blushed.

Ken walked to the bathroom very slowly. For one, Naru was acting extremely strange tonight, and two, he was starting to get freaked out by her sudden change in a behavior. I mean, yeah, she's sweeter to him nowadays, but if he didn't know better, he'd think she was trying to… seduce him. Ken shook his head at that possibility. After all, Naru spent the first few weeks hating him, and now… anyway, the probability level of that happening was slim to none. Ken arrived at the bathroom and decided to wash his face. He was feeling very hot in that room, for some reason.

_Maybe I should be on the lookout. I don't like this feeling I'm getting whenever I'm with Narusegawa-san. She might be up to something. In fact, I'm almost sure of it._

He started analyzing what had happened ever since Naru announced her approval up until now, when he was tutoring her in her room.

_Well, then after all that happened, she started acting all nice. Wait a minute. Strange factor one… she's the top student at her prep school… and her prep school is pretty well-known… how could I have not seen this? She does freaking understand what to do! Then, what is her reason for lying and asking for my help? She was wearing awfully skimpy clothing, but she can't really be trying to seduce me, is she? I mean what the hell? She's not… she's not… stop being so paranoid…_

He walked back to Naru's room, in normal speed, and slid through the door. He took a seat opposite of where Naru was sitting, just so he won't be in an uncomfortable predicament later on. When he sat down, he decided that he would need to watch what he does, just in case…

"Okay Naruse—"

"Naru-chan…"

"—gawa-san, what else do you need help with?"

"Uhm… this…"

Naru shoved in book in front of Ken and pointed to a random problem. When he looked at it, he found it was something else that he never got to learn. He took a pencil and paper and got to work. After figuring it out and finding that he must have done it correctly, he looked up, but could not find Naru.

_Huh? Where'd she go?_

"Oh, I'm right here, Ken-kun" Naru said.

He looked to his right and found Naru sitting next to him.

_Oh great, so much for not having to scoot over later…_

He starts to explain what she needs to do for that type of problem, but apparently, Naru didn't seem interested in studying anymore…

"Forget about the problem for a minute, Ken-kun…" Naru interrupted him in mid-sentence.

"U-Uhm… okay… but why?"

"Because I… I want to know… what you think of me…"

"Well… you're nice and sweet when you want to be. Okay, now back to the problem. When this—"

"That's it? Just nice and sweet?"

"Uhm… you're… uhm… smart and responsible too… I suppose…"

"That's it? Nice, sweet, smart, and responsible?" She began to get watery in the eyes. "Don't you think I'm pretty?" she blushed as she asked this.

_Okay, now she is definitely freaking me out… and yeah, I think I'm right. This evil wench is trying to freaking seduce me… through pity or somewhere along the lines of that…well, I suppose I can play this little game of yours… _(**A/N**: you can't blame the guy for being evil. It comes natural to him when he knows he's being used.)

"Uh… sure."

"'Sure?' That usually means you don't think I am but you're saying it just to make me feel better…" sobbed Naru.

"Look, what do you want me to say?"

Obviously Ken was a little too harsh with that, because Naru started sobbing harder, but not so loud that the other residents would wake.

_Argh… how troublesome. I mean, I know she's just acting but damn man! She doesn't have to make it look like one of those drama shows…_

Suddenly, Naru's crying lightened to little sniffles, and she asked him yet another question.

"Do you still hate me?"

_YES! You're trying to freaking use me; just like all those people in the past…I just want to –beep- -beep- you and then –beep- until –beep- -beep-. _(**A/N**: in short, he just wants revenge… just in case you can't understand with all the –beep-s)

"No…"

"Do you enjoy my company?"

_Yeah, when you're dead I will enjoy your company!_

"Yeah, sometimes…"

Naru let out a little smile, a little devious smile, and Ken knew what was coming next… the cat. In Naru's calculation, it usually only takes about 2-3 minutes for all of the Hinata residents to wake up and race to her room. Naru dropped the pity act and went straight to using the physical technique. She 'accidentally' brushed herself against Ken, and then tackled him onto the floor. Ken looked at either side of himself now, where his arms are pinned down by Naru. Naru was very confident on her plan. She thought it was fool proof.

"OH KENNN!" She shouted, seemingly to pretend she was having an orgasm or something.

One thing Naru has miscalculated was Ken's strength. He smirked and did his own calculation in 5 seconds tops. The Hinata residents will take about 1-2 minutes, not 2-3 minutes. He hurriedly broke loose from Naru's grip when he caught her off guard and ran slightly out the door and stood at the doorway. All the other residents came running towards Naru's room, reaching Naru, and asked her what the hell was going on. Naru was dumbfounded, and Ken smirked at her.

"Naru, what's going on?" asked Motoko.

"O-Oh nothing. I was just dreaming that Ken beat me in getting the higher score on a test…" lied Naru.

"Oh, what that it? Just dreaming?" grumbled Kitsune as she started for the door.

Everyone left Naru's room, one by one, until only Ken remained there. Ken walked back over to Naru's side and pretended like nothing ever happened.

"So, Narusegawa-san, what other problems are you having with your studies? I'm sure you'll need to study lots to get a higher score than me on a test" Ken rubbed into Naru's face.

Naru was pissed. P-I-S-S-E-D, pissed. She threw a punch at Ken. Now, normally you would think that Ken would go flying into orbit, seeing how the manager takes her punches, but not for our Ken. He caught her fist, and squeezed it, hard. She was at his mercy now, and he didn't feel like pretending anymore. He didn't feel like being nice to her or anything of the such anymore. Besides, his niceness and patience has run out for Naru. First encounter, she was rude to him, then she refused to let him stay at the inn in his hardest times, then she would imply insults at him, then she would accuse him of being perverted, and then go through his things, and now she's doing this? Yes, his patience with her is very thin right now. The good side of Ken is a better place to stay at, but when he goes dark, you'll rather rot in hell than be at his mercy…

"You little bitch! You think you could just play with me, didn't you?" Ken said through clenched teeth.

Naru was struggling to get out of his grip. "Let-me-go…"

"What makes you think you could do all this shit to me? Did you seriously think I was perverted or something? Did you seriously fucking think I'm that fucking stupid to fall for your fucking tricks?"

"What do you want? Let go…"

"What do I want? The real goddamn question is what do you want? You've been so fucking disrespectful to me and treating me like shit all the time. My patience for you has reached its limit, bitch…"

Ken's eyes were so steely cold right now and it frightened Naru to look at them.

"You're plan was so fucking obvious. First, you wanted me to tutor you while you work your supposed charms on me, right?"

Naru didn't answer him. She somehow lost her voice, but then she felt a searing pain at her fist. Sucks for her, I don't think she'll be able to write for a while…

"Right?" Ken said once more, squeezing harder.

"R-right…"

"Tell me, tell me the rest of you're plan. I really want to know if it was what I thought…"

Naru was silent. She was scared, very scared at the new Ken she is seeing right now.

"Tell me, bitch!" He squeezed even harder.

Naru squinted at the pain. "I-I wanted to s-seduce y-you. The o-original plan w-was to have you b-be all over m-me, b-but you w-weren't re-reacting… s-so I decided t-to take a-action…"

She paused for a second. After all, this is very humiliating to her. To reveal her plans and everything, but what choice does she have? Dark Ken doesn't like liars, cheaters, users, or anything of that kind, and she just happened to cross him.

"Go on…" Ken persisted by hurting her further.

"A-ah… I-I y-yelled to get t-the residents a-attention, a-and I p-planned that by the t-time they g-get here, it w-would seem l-like you w-were trying s-something… t-to make e-everyone think t-that you're u-up to n-no good, a-and t-then k-kick you o-out of t-the inn."

"Yon son of a bitch" whispered Ken. "In all my life, in all the years I've been alive, I've been used and abused. I was able to fucking hold a good temper, and I learned my fucking manners from my neighbors. I've been fucking polite to you and everyone in this inn. I've been kind to all of you… why is it that you hate me so fucking much? What do I ever do to you?"

Ken's emotion began to change. All the years that he has been abused and used flashed before his eyes. He remembers every single person in this world who wronged him in the past. He remembers exactly how they hurt him, and he remembered how much it hurts. He remembered when kids would beat him up after school everyday. He remembered when he overheard his so-called friends telling their friends they were only using him. He remembered how they taunted him when he confronted them. His memories then shift to the darker years of when he was home. Every pain that he has ever felt, somehow happen to try to reveal itself at the moment.

Naru never answered him, but he didn't care. He was too busy trying not to let the pain show. He spent most of his time here, putting up a façade as a happy, boring, normal kid. He spent his time acting like he's over the past, but he never was. He still thinks about it every night when he sleeps, and every time he's alone. As sadness replaced anger, he let go of Naru's fist.

"Don't ever mention this encounter with anyone…" commanded Ken.

After his last few words with Naru, he left and returned to his room. Why did he suddenly have an emotional outburst? It was so unlike him. He was able to obtain a fair temperament ever since he went to the counselor in his school days. What caused this to happen? What happened that made Ken lose control and turn dark? The last time Ken turned dark was when he found out his friends were just using him… but Naru wasn't a friend… so why did he react that way?

(**A/N**: I took Martrex's comment into consideration and decided that I give Ken some emotions, although I had intended to keep Ken emotionless and all to show the affects of living with a drug-addict mother, but I kind of like this outcome, don't you?)

EEk... I'm sorry if I didn't have a lot of Sakura in here but I don't think Sakura would like to see Dark Ken, so I had them study together at night, when she's asleep. No worries, Sakura will show up a little more often in other chapters. This chapter was mainly made to show that Ken is not a robot and that he does have emotions, despite the fact that he seems very cool most of the time...

**_NEXT CHAPTER:_** having writers block... so I guess it will have to come as a surprise...

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Whoah! Ken has a dark side! Guess he's not perfect anymore... -sigh- oh wellz... _**reviews**_ and let me know what you think about it so far :-) If you find any grammatical errors, please tell me because I hate it when I have grammatical errors in my stories... 5+ reviews equals new chapter 

Sakura: Aww... it's over? Wait... that's a good thing for me becuase that means you have to send reviews for onii-san to read to me... yay... reviews! (looks around) But... where'd all the reviews go? (starts to get teary-eyes)


	4. Bonus Chapter: Sakura's Birthday

Disclaimer: I am not Akamatsu Ken, therefore I do not own LH or characters. I do, however, own Ken and Sakura. :-P

**A/N**: This is just a bonus (and sort of pointless)chapter to lighten the mood from the previous chapter.  
Updates will be less frequent for the next six weeks due to the fact that I have gotten myself a job...

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"Onii-san! Onii-san! Wake up!" 

Ken lazily woke up and sat upright on his futon. He rubbed his eyes and made a sort of groaning that said 'I'm really tired, what is it?'. He slowly drooped back onto his futon.

"Onii-san! Today is my birthday! Let's go out. I want to go out! Wake up, onii-san!"

Sakura tugged onto her older brother until he responded. Ken slowly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to go through his morning rituals while Sakura was by his side singing the happy birthday song to herself. They arrived to the kitchen, and Ken started preparing breakfast.

"So does Sak-kun want a birthday cake this year?" asked Ken.

In all the years that Ken had lived back home, he was never able to get Sakura a birthday cake due to their mother. Whenever Kensuke tried to do something nice for his little sister, their mother would interfere and crash the party. This year, however, Ken is going to make sure that Sakura have a happy birthday.

"Mm… yeah! But does onii-san even know how to bake?"

"Well… I've tried but not exactly. I saved up some money so I can buy you a cake and a present. You get to pick it out when we go to the bakery later. You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Sakura nodded furiously, then she gave it a second thought, and shook her head furiously. Ken gave her a questioning look.

"Sak-kun wants onii-san to bake the cake with Maehara-san. Maehara-san knows how to bake a cake" stated Sak-kun.

Ken gave a little smile and stopped what he was doing, which was dicing some greens. He kneeled down to Sakura, and spoke in a brotherly, soft voice.

"Are you sure about that?"

Sakura nodded frantically, while a grin appeared on her face.

"Okay" Ken resumes his cooking. "But don't complain if the cake isn't good"

"It will be good. I know it…"

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because Maehara-san is helping you. Maehara-san can cook anything…"

Ken gives a light chuckle and occasionally answers some questions that Sakura asks such as 'what's that' and 'why do you have to do that?'. Just as Ken was finished cooking and started setting the table, Shinobu comes in.

"I-I'm so sorry Ken-kun! I must have overslept today. I hadn't realized it. Oh, let me help you. How can—"

"It's okay Shinobu-chan."

"Maehara-san! Maehara-san! My brother wants to ask you something"

Ken gives his sister a playful glare and she smiles back at him. Shinobu watch the two in confusion.

"What is it Ken-kun?"

"Oh, I never learned how to bake a cake… and I was wondering... if you could teach me…"

"Of course I could, but why do you want to learn how to bake a cake?"

"Well… you see… its Sakura's idea. She doesn't want me going out to buy her one. She wanted me to bake her one… for her birthday… which is today…"

"Oh... wait, Sakura's birthday is today?"

Sakura nods. "Yes! I'm turning seven. I'm going to be a big girl soon and be as smart as onii-san"

"Oh dear, I haven't prepared a present for you Sakura-chan…"

"It's okay. I never had presents before anyway. I don't care for presents. I want a cake. Please Maehara-san! Will you help onii-san make me a cake? I really really really want a cake…"

"Okay, I will" smiled Shinobu.

The rest of the Hinata residents filled the room as breakfast was served. Naru snuck occasional glances over at Ken, and he returned them with a light smirk. After what happened in the studying session last week, Naru has temporarily stopped her schemes. Not only that, Dark Ken left an indelible impression on her. She could not forget those cold steely eyes and the tone of his voice when he spoke to her. After breakfast, Shinobu insisted that she wash the dishes since she missed out on the cooking. Ken didn't refuse, and he left the inn with Sakura skipping by his side.

"So what does Sak-kun want for her birthday?"

"Cake…"

"What else? Oh right, I really should get you a new school uniform. Your old one is worn out. Would you like that, Sak-kun?"

"Yes"

They left to the busy streets of the Hinata Province. They walked through several streets, and are just browsing in and out of certain stores. Sakura has already gotten her new uniform. On their way back to the Hinata Inn, she was glued to a toy shop window. Ken followed her gaze to find a light brown teddy bear. It held out its arms ready to give hugs, and small bow around its neck. Ken carried Sakura into the store (basically because she wouldn't move from the store window) and bought her the teddy bear. Sakura hugged it all the way back to the inn.

"Thank you onii-san!" Sakura said for the hundredth time since he bought it.

It was now sometime around lunch and Ken headed towards the kitchen to start on lunch. However, he already found Shinobu inside, already finished cooking. She was currently washing some pots that she used to cook the food. Without needing to be asked, he and Sakura left the kitchen and went to inform the others that lunch is ready. The last person they have to tell now is Naru. They arrived at the door, and Sakura slipped into the room. After about 3 seconds, Ken slides the door open, and watch as Sakura runs back out. Ken only said 'Lunchtime, Narusegawa-san' to her and then turned to leave towards the dining room. As the seats began filling, they realized that Sakura was holding onto a little teddy bear.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, where'd you get that?" asked Kitsune.

"Onii-san bought it for me…" replied Sakura.

"Is today a special occasion?" inquired Keitaro.

"It's my birthday. I'm turning seven"

"Yay! A birthday party with lots of food… yum…" stated Su.

"Uhm… sorry to disappoint everyone but we won't be having a party" replied Ken.

"Aww… why not?"

"Because well… there really is no need for one."

"Ok… no party" stated Kitsune.

Knowing Kitsune, she's probably brewing something in her head about how to start a party by now. Ken, however, was unaware of this and smiles as Kitsune makes her statement. After lunch, Ken does the dishes, and Shinobu stayed to help with the drying. Sakura was there too, sticking to her brother all day like glue. After they finished the dishes, Ken suggested that they get started on making the cake. Shinobu agrees and she takes out some ingredients.

"Would Sak-kun like to help?"

Sakura nods and she watches as the older two started measuring out the ingredients. Sakura helped Shinobu mix the ingredients, while Ken started to cut some fresh fruit. When the cake was baking in the oven, they made the icing. The oven made a sort of 'ding' sound and that told the three that the cake was done. They took icing and started layering it over the cake. Then they decorated it with cuts of strawberries, cherries, and kiwi and designed a sakura flower in the middle. Shinobu completed it by adding a last touch. Letters spelling out 'Happy Birthday Sakura' in red letters to compliment the pink icing. They admired their masterpiece after all their hard work. A circular fruit cake with pink icing. When they were done, the two girls looked a mess with flour on their faces. Ken gave a little chuckle as he wiped the flour away from Sakura's cheeks.

"You have flour on your face too Shinobu-chan…" informed Ken as he wiped the flour off her face as well.

Ken felt heat on his hands as he wiped away the flour from Shinobu's face. It is normal, considering the girl was blushing profusely as their skin made contact. Sakura gave a puzzling look as she saw Shinobu turning into a human heater. Ken gave a light smile and spoke as he removed his hand.

"You know you look cute when you do that, right?"

"D-Do what?"

"Not telling. Come on, let's round the others to eat this…"

"W-Why d-don't we j-just leave i-it until d-dinner?"

"Okay, sure." He turns his attention over to Sakura. "Can you wait that long, Sak-kun?"

"Uh huh. I'm a big girl. I can wait."

Ken looks at the time and found that they were working on this cake for two whole hours. Ken puts away the cake and Sakura grabs her teddy bear. They leave the kitchen and walked out to find all the residents out in the living room, apparently setting up for a party.

"Oh, look. The birthday girl has decided to arrive" said Kitsune.

"Konno-san… I thought you promised not to have a party…" grumbled Ken.

"I didn't promise anything. Besides, how do you expect a kid to get older and not throw her a party?"

"Fine… fine... but just so you don't go ordering a cake, we've already baked one."

"Hmm… too late. Keitaro went out to buy a cake"

"Yay! Two cakes!" chimed Sakura. "Urashima-san is bringing another cake home!"

Ken gave a slight chuckle at the word 'home'. He's glad that there is actually a place in this world that Sakura would actually consider home. They lived in a house all their life, but it wasn't a home… it was hell. Keitaro enters the inn, along with a brown-haired woman who is holding a… watermelon?

"Urashima! What took you so long?" asked Motoko.

"Ahh, sorry Motoko-chan. The bakery ran out of cakes, so I had to wait for them to bake one. And on my way back, I bumped into Mutsumi-chan, and invited her along" explained the manager.

"Hi all. My, what a great party…" commented Mutsumi.

"The party didn't even start yet…" mumbled Naru.

Ken gave her a glare, and she kept the rest of her comments to herself. He gave Mutsumi-chan a warm smile, and offered to shake her hand.

"Hello, I'm Zumaki Kensuke, and this is my sister, Zumaki Sakura. This is a party for her"

"Oh, hello there. I'm Mutsumi Otohime. I brought the birthday girl a present."

She handed the watermelon to Sakura, who dropped it because of its weight. Ken shook her hand and then picked up the watermelon and thanked Mutsumi. He went back into the kitchen and cut up the watermelon for everybody. After they ate the watermelon and chatted for a bit, Ken went back in and brought out the cake that they made. They all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Sakura, and she blew out the candles after making a wish. Ken helped Sakura cut the cake up. First, he cut a circle in the middle where there was a little Sakura flower and then he cut the sides out, leaving the middle piece for Sakura.

"This is one good cake. Can I have more?" asked Su.

"There is no more, but we can feast on the cake Urashima-san bought" replied Ken.

Ken walked over to bring the other cake to the table. He took the chocolate cake out of its box and placed it in the center, where the first cake was already devoured. Everyone ate seconds, and enjoyed each other's company.

"Ken-kun…" started Shinobu.

"Oh my, Shinobu. I forgot to congratulate you on having such a wonderful boyfriend" said Mutsumi.

Shinobu blushed to a crimson shade. "I-I d-don't h-have a-a b-boyfriend…"

"Oh? I'm so sorry. I thought Ken and you are an item…"

"Yes… I did too…" stated Motoko.

"It's a shame… you two make a great couple…" replied Keitaro.

"Sempai…" Shinobu whispered.

"Aww… if Shinobu gets a boyfriend, then she won't play with me anymore. Now I'm jealous of Ken-san!" thought Su out loud.

"Heh, don't worry Su. Shinobu and I are not going out, so you don't have to worry about that…" informed Ken.

For the rest of the night, the topic of their conversation went from Shinobu and Ken to Mutsumi and Keitaro to Keitaro's dream girl to Mutsumi's dream boy to Keitaro being the Hinata Inn manager. Very soon, Ken put Sakura to sleep, as it was getting fairly late for the young girl. After he did just that, he returned to the living room to clean up after the party, but he found that the real party had just begun. It turns out that Kitsune was being Kitsune, planned out a light party for Sakura, and then decided to get crashed in the after-party. Everyone had some sake, and Ken decided to stay away from it. He didn't want to get drunk. Besides, someone has to clean up after them. Ken decided to just let them drink while he cleaned up. After a while, Shinobu stumbled over to Ken's side, and he found that she want pretty much drunk.

"Ken… Naru said –hic- that –hic- you are –hic- evil… -hic- are you? –hic-"

"Shinobu-chan… you're drunk…"

"No –hic- I'm not… I only drank –hic- some punch…"

Ken walked over to the bowl of punch and poured himself a sip. It was tampered with… with alcohol. Good thing he decided to stay away from the drinks. He reached out for Shinobu and carried her to back her room. He laid her gently onto her mattress and placed a damp towel on her forehead. Then, he headed out the door to see how the others were doing. He found Kitsune asleep on the couch, Keitaro sleeping on the table, and the rest were on the floor. The only one conscious was Motoko, and she wasn't even drunk.

Everyone, except Motoko, woke up the next morning with a very bad hangover. Strangely enough, they all found painkillers right next to them, and they took them. Then, they all smelled the fresh aroma of breakfast.

"Oy, Shinobu, what's for br— Oh, hey Ken-san… where's Shinobu?" asked Su.

"Oh, she's in her room. Can you tell everyone to come to breakfast?"

"Sure thing"

Ken set up the food in the living room and proceeded to wake Sakura up. By the time they entered the dining room, everyone was already eating. They all exchanged greetings to the little girl whose birthday was yesterday, and had fun talking about the party they had, leaving things out about the after-party. Ken and Shinobu cleared the table and were now in the kitchen, washing the dishes.

"T-Thank you, Ken-kun…"

"Hmm? For what?"

"For… carrying me to my room yesterday. I don't remember what happened, but Motoko told me that you took care of me at my drunken state…"

"Oh, it's ok. Though, I never regarded you of the type who drinks…"

Shinobu blushed. "I-I didn't know… I thought it was just punch…"

"It's okay, I know."

"U-Uhm… K-Ken-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember a long time ago, we had a conversation on the roof?"

"Yeah?"

"Well… I-I'd like t-to do t-that again… t-tonight…"

"Sure… anytime you like…"

"M-Midnight?"

"Sure"

So the day passed by with Shinobu waiting anxiously for midnight to arrive. Ken, on the other hand, was having trouble getting Sakura to fall asleep. He tried various methods, and finally got her to sleep after singing her a lullaby and reading her a story. It was about ten minutes after midnight, but Shinobu was still there. The stars were out again, sparkling as if there was no tomorrow. The cool summer breeze wrapped itself around Ken occasionally, and the wonderful color of the night, blue and black…

"So Shinobu-chan… what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Your plans… for the future…"

"My plans? I really don't have much. Just go through college, get a job, and give Sakura the best. You know… the usual thing a parent is supposed to do for their kid."

"How are you going to get through college? The tuition, taking care of Sakura and all?"

"Well… I've been applying for financial aid, loans, and scholarships. As for taking care of Sakura, I'll still be able to do that. I'll take morning classes, you know, while she's in school. Then I can pick her up afterwards. However, I was kind of hoping that you do me a favor."

"What's that?"

"Not everything's going to go my way, so if it doesn't and I won't be able to be there for Sakura, I was kind of hoping you could… well… help out…"

"Of course, Sakura-chan is a very sweet little girl…"

"Thanks… how bout your future?"

"M-Me? I never thought much of it…"

"Hmm… I meant what I said… you'd do well in a restaurant or something…"

"…"

"Well… for one, you are very good at cooking and cooking for the residents is good practice for you. For two, you really seem to enjoy cooking a lot. You could kill two birds with one stone. Doing something you like and making money for it… that is… if you choose that career"

"That's true… I do like to cook but what about Tokyo U?"

"What about Tokyo U?"

"…"

"I know Tokyo U is very prestigious and it would make your parents proud if you go, but don't you think your parents will be equally proud if you are successful no matter what you do?"

"Maybe… I don't know…"

"I don't know what it's like to want to make your parents proud so if the only way to make them proud is going to Tokyo U, I would screw it, and go elsewhere to do what I want for my dreams…"

"But that's the problem… I don't know what I want to do…"

"Ah… it's okay… after all, you have one year to consider what college you will go to…"

"It's two… I'm going to be a junior…"

"Oh? And the whole time I thought you already passed that grade level…"

"Well… I just turned sixteen when you came live with us…"

"Oh… I see…"

The two stayed on the rooftop to talk about their plans in life. When the stars stopped sparkling and the night turned dark, they decided to go back to bed. Each person went back to bed with something new to think about. Shinobu put into consideration of what college to go to while Ken thought about how to go through the rest of his life in general. After all, he is a sixteen year old who is going to college, so obviously, there will be some obstacles.

**_NEXT CHAPTER:_** School starts for our residents... and things happen... but what sort of things?

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Thanks for reading and now... please **_reviewww_**! If you find any grammatical errors, please tell me because I hate it when I have grammatical errors in my stories... 5+ reviews equals new chapter :-) 


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